Shaping US policy towards Iraq before the Gulf war: discussions at the White House and debate on Capitol Hill

 
PIIS032150750013632-7-1
DOI10.31857/S032150750013632-7
Publication type Article
Status Published
Authors
Occupation: Associate Professor
Affiliation: Yaroslavl State Medical University
Address: Yaroslavl, Krasnoborskaya Street, house 34, flat 63
Journal nameAsia and Africa Today
EditionIssue 1
Pages60-66
AbstractThe article analyzes the policy of the United States towards Iraq before the Gulf War. It is noted that the decision-making process in the R.Reagan and George H.W.Bush administrations was marked with acute inner struggle. Within the executive branch of the United States three main departments were involved in shaping foreign policy: the Department of State, the National Security Council and the Department of Defense. They proposed two radically different approaches to the Saddam Hussein’s regime. The Pentagon insisted on a «hard line» and since 1990 has been preparing to reject the inevitable, in its opinion, Iraqi aggression in the region. The State Department, on the contrary, advocated a moderate approach, which assumed, by combining diplomatic measures with trade and economic preferences, to make Iraq orientates towards Washington. The third agency, the National Security Council, was initially practically abstained from Iraqi policy issues. But at crucial moment, its chief members supported the State Department and «soft approach», which ultimately determined the behavior of the George H.W.Bush administration. And up to the beginning of the aggression, it was hope to «appease» Iraq. On Capitol Hill, the situation for Baghdad developed along a more definite, but negative way. The main incentives for the steady growth of dissatisfaction of American legislators during 1988-1990 were Iraq's threats against Tel Aviv, as well as Baghdad's accusations of non-observance of human rights. As a result, after a heated debate, at the end of July 1990 Congress imposes economic sanctions on Iraq. But the influence of Congress on foreign policy is rather limited. The main responsibility lay with the White House, whose policies, willingly or unwillingly, provoked Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 that became the beginning of the Gulf War (1990-1991).
KeywordsIraq, S.Hussein, Gulf war, USA, State Department, Congress, Department of Defense
Received11.02.2021
Publication date26.02.2021
Number of characters27842
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